Four hurt when SUV rolls on I-8

ALPINE  Three adults and a toddler suffered life-threatening injuries Monday when the SUV they were riding in flipped over on Interstate 8 near Alpine.

The child, a 2-year-old girl, was thrown from the 2001 Ford Explorer, which crashed about 11:50 a.m. near the Willows Road exit by Viejas Casino, California Highway Patrol Officer Kevin Pearlstein said.

None of the adults was wearing a seat belt, Pearlstein said. A child’s car seat was in the SUV, but it did not appear the toddler had been buckled into it, he said.

The girl’s 28-year-old mother was driving the SUV westbound when it drifted off the road, flipped and rolled several times through the dirt center divider. It landed upside down, partially blocking one of the eastbound lanes, Pearlstein said.

The driver, who is from Campo, was taken by ambulance to Sharp Memorial Hospital in Serra Mesa. Her daughter was taken by ambulance to Rady Children’s Hospital.

The two other passengers — a 29-year-old Campo man and his 50-year-old mother — were flown by medical helicopter to Sharp Memorial, Pearlstein said.

The 50-year-old had been partially thrown from the SUV, he said.

It’s not clear why the SUV drifted off the road, he said. It does not appear alcohol or drugs were a factor.

The SUV was going about 70 mph — the speed limit on that stretch of freeway — when it drifted off the road.